Twenty-two people died in New York City traffic in August, and 4,435 were injured, according to the monthly NYPD crash data report [PDF].

As of the end of August, 94 pedestrians and cyclists were reported killed by city motorists this year, and 9,593 injured, compared to 103 deaths and 10,336 injuries for the same period in 2013.

Citywide, at least 10 pedestrians and four cyclists were fatally struck by drivers: two pedestrians and one cyclist in Manhattan; one pedestrian in the Bronx; two pedestrians and one cyclist in Brooklyn; and five pedestrians and two cyclists in Queens. Among the victims were Karol Grzegorczyk, Jerrison Garcia, Shu Fan Huang, Menachem Galapo, and Silvia Gallo.

Motorists killed at least five pedestrians and three cyclists whose names were not immediately disclosed by NYPD, or whose deaths were not covered in the press. Most every month, there are pedestrian and cyclist deaths that go unreported other than the scant details provided weeks later in the NYPD dataset, which lists only the intersection closest to the crash and the victim’s mode of travel. These crashes are enumerated by WNYC on its “Mean Streets” page.

Motorists killed at least two seniors in August: Shu Fan Huang, 82, and an unnamed 79-year-old pedestrian in Queens.

Of the fatal crashes reported by Streetsblog and other outlets, one motorist was known to have been charged for causing a death. Cab driver MD Hossain was charged under Section 19-190, the new law that makes it a misdemeanor for drivers to harm pedestrians and cyclists who have the right of way, for the death of Silvia Gallo. Nojeem Odunfa was cited for failure to exercise due care and charged with unlicensed driving following the crash that killed Jerrison Garcia. Historically, nearly half of motorists who kill a New York City pedestrian or cyclist do not receive so much as a citation for careless driving.

Five motorists and three passengers died in the city in August; 1,511 and 1,711 were injured, respectively.

There were 17,000 motor vehicle crashes in the city in August, including 3,209 that resulted in injury or death.

Cyclist numbers remain extremely high relative to the number of people cycling.

This is a serious concern if we want cycling to be a viable mode of transportation for many people in this city, not to mention the fact that human lives are actually being lost due to design (DOT) and non-enforcement (NYPD).

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In any rational world, a doubling of cyclists deaths from one year to the next would cause DOT to double down on improving the infrastructure to prevent more tragedies. Instead, we get extra-wide parking lanes and calls to wait for the “community” to get used to things.

DOT needs to get its mojo back when it comes to bikes. But if preventing dead cyclists doesn’t cause it to happen, I don’t know what will.

The DOT never had any mojo to get back; its entire stock of mojo was embodied by Janette Sadik-Khan, who was backed unapologetically by Bloomberg. Unfortunately, both are now gone for good.

If de Blasio had wanted to further the good work of the DOT under Sadik-Khan, then nothing would have prevented him from reappointing her. If he can bring in Giuliani’s police commissioner, he certainly could have brought in Bloomberg’s DOT commissioner. That he didn’t for a second consider doing this should be an indication of how serious he is about this matter.

Reliance on any kind of institutional DOT mojo is utterly misplaced. Sadik-Khan was the first DOT commissioner ever to understand her mandate as something other than serving the interests of drivers at the expense of everyone else. There is no reason to doubt that the department will just revert to this point of view without the sage hand of Sadik-Khan (backed up by the power of Bloomberg’s City Hall) guiding it.

Joe R.

Movements which depend on only one person are destined to failure. If that person dies or moves on what do we do?

Remember there’s a national, even a worldwide, movement to stop designing streets solely for motorists. We’re not going back to business as usual even without JSK. The pace may slow a bit, but the general idea that streets aren’t just for cars has been ingrained in the public conscience thanks to people like her.

As for Bloomberg, I seriously question how committed he was. Sure, he appointed JSK, but at the same time he kept a police commissioner around who was about as anti-cyclist as they come. If he was really committed, he would have appointed someone else after the first bike ticketing blitz. He also would have fought for more sensible traffic laws for cyclists and pedestrians.

Bloomberg was an utter failure in most other aspects. NYC became even less affordable to live after 12 years. He did very little to secure reliable funding for mass transit. He basically ignored the needs of the outer boroughs. Perhaps DeBlasio won’t be any better in those areas, but it’s hard to imagine he’ll be worse.

I am not saying that the whole bicycle movement worldwide depends on Sadik-Khan. I am saying only that she herself (and not the DOT institutionally) is responsible for the advances in bike infrastructure that we enjoy daily in New York.

It’s true that both Bloomberg and de Blasio have done nothing to transform a police force that is (with a few notable exceptions) hostile to bicyclists. But Bloomberg not only appointed Sadik-Khan, he also defended her against her many critics (including de Blasio) where other mayors would have dumped her or reined her in. The fact that Bloomberg didn’t pull a Lani Guinier on Sadik-Khan is enough for me to conclude that he was truly behind her and that he fully believed in the idea of livable streets.

I see no reason to think that de Blasio believes in any such thing. So I cannot imagine that his DOT commissioner has been charged with continuing the advances of her predecessor.

Joe R.

Well, I doubt keeping JSK around would have been a deal breaker as far as getting reelected. I sure some minority of people didn’t vote for him solely because he defended JSK, but in the end he really had nothing to lose by defending her. He probably ran the numbers and saw the general public doesn’t decide mayoral races based on the DOT commissioner. On the other hand, mayoral races have been won or lost depending upon choice of police commissioner. Perhaps that’s why he kept Kelly around? He didn’t want to take a chance the next commissioner might preside over a spike in crime rates which would have killed his chances at reelection. Still, I feel at the very least he should have spoken out against the bike ticket blitzes. Especially during his third term, he could have done anything he wanted as there were no worries about getting reelected. Kelly should have been gone right at the start of his third time.

That said, I’m less than thrilled with de Blasio recycling a Guiliani-era police commissioner. We had way too much stupid “quality-of-life” ticketing under Guiliani. Why he would appoint a police commissioner who believes in broken windows is beyond me.

Bolwerk

It’s not just principle and commitment that matter though, and de Blasio probably does have more vulnerability on this topic than Bloomberg. Bloomberg was never especially afraid of alienating economic populists, since the only ones who voted for him were the chauvinist/xenophobic ones whose main issue was crime. OTOH, at least to some extent de Blasio has to deal with a delicate coalition between economic populists in the old Democratic factions, who often drive, and young/newcomer urban revivalists who want to walk and cycle.

BdB might turn out to be worse than Bloomberg on cycling. Hell, as far as policing has been concerned, he already has been. Ironically, the politics of BdB and Bloomberg are not that different, but the risks are.

Andres Dee

“…but none of this matters, because two pededestrians were killed by bicyclers.” (/sarcasm)

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